Front Row Seats

WE ATTEND THE KATYA LEONOVICH FASHION SHOW

This past weekend we went to Lincoln Center to see Katya Leonovich's runway show. We got there a little early so we could enjoy the balmy weather and check out the crowd.  The variety was mind-boggling! (Just click on the photos to enlarge and/or activate the slide show.)

Jean had the added treat of getting to hang out with Christene Barberich, Editor in Chief of Refinery 29 and one of our fellow Phillip Lim / Target background models, when they ended up in the same subway car and got seats together.  Christene paired her vintage animal print skirt with an animal print bag, amazing sunglasses and a Jason Wu top.

So casual, and so perfect at the same time!

We've forgiven ourselves for our less than perfect lighting.  We had to show you this lady.  She's fab all over, down to her two-toned hair.

This woman told us she found a custom tulle skirt maker on Etsy.

We admired this woman's great look.  Sharp, angular, sophisticated, understated.

While we were on our way to the Mercedes Benz lounge, we met Eli, an aspiring model. Standing at 5'10" before donning those platform stiletto boots, she's hard to miss.

You can see where Eli gets her good looks! No, that's not her sister. That's her mom!

Here's the rear-view of Eli's amazing footwear.

During Fashion Week, even the babies sport their greatest accessories when they go to Lincoln Center!  How do you beat a Missoni baby carriage?!

Once we got inside The Studio, we were thrilled to find out we were sitting in the front row!

And in case you didn't notice, those of us in the first row got a gorgeous miniature boxed chocolate!  Katya's name was on the ribbon. Inside was a tiny chocolate mouse with - wait for it - a chocolate mousse filling.  Nice touch!

Again, we have to forgive ourselves for the lighting (and our less than fabulous camera and shutter skills).  We just had to show you this fellow attendee's marvelous jacket.   (Imagine how great it would look in better light.)  Always a treat to see men who are not afraid of color.

And now for the show!  Katya's Spring Summer 2014 line included a lot of pastel colors, in leather and chiffon. We liked the detailing on this lavendar leather dress.  In fact, we liked the detailing on everything!

Having front row seats was definitely a plus since we didn't have to jockey for position to get a good shot.  Two nights later, we saw the third dress from the right - the purple one - again.  This time it was on the designer herself, arriving at the same party for MAO PR as we were. Katya pointed out that wearing one's own work was one of the advantages of being a clothing designer.

This reddish-fuscia dress was one of the few non-pastel items. Although Katya herself is Russian, she has her clothes manufactured in Italy, where she also did some of her studies.  All the materials were gorgeous.  We wanted to reach out and touch so many of them!

The models glided up and down the runway. Even though they were wearing stilettos, you could not hear their footsteps. How did they do that?

After the show, in the atrium, another entirely different, informal show unfolded before our eyes.  We met Andre, a jewelry designer.  Little did we know we'd run into him again the very next day at Yotel.

Here's a close-up of one of his colorful creations, combining textiles and metals.

Artist Marco Santaniello was our fashion week Zelig. Everywhere we went, he was there. That afternoon, he was wearing one of Katya's metallic-painted buttery leather jackets from a prior season.  (Special effects courtesy of Jean's new iPhone.  Isn't technology a blast?  Now if we only knew how to repeat this!)

How fabulous is this vinyl headgear? And the label states the wearer's name: Early Ross.

Loved Lisa Xavier's boots!

Who ARE these unmasked men???  Note the funnel fronts on their  shirt collars.

How fab was this fellow's black and white ensemble?

And check out the shoes on Robert Richards.

See what we mean about shorts making inroads? Is this style a response to global warming?

This gent sports the ultimate mohawk.

A bit of men's foot candy...

A bit of ladies' foot candy...

A little bit o' bubbly before heading home...

And, back outside on the plaza, a little scene stealer to end with.

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For the curious, Valerie's surgical boot decorated with five yards of wide velvet ribbon cut, knotted and fabric glued; shoe decorated with one yard of medium ribbon cut and fabric-glued.

NY Fashion Week: Opening Ceremony's Zana Bayne 9/6/13

On Friday night, we attended Opening Ceremony's Fashion Week event on the Pier at West 16th Street and the Hudson River, highlighting a number of designers and products featured in the store. The weather was wonderfully balmy, with a lovely breeze off the river.

Zana Bayne was the featured designer, presenting her Spring/Summer 2014 collection in person that evening. An added treat for us was the fact that we know her mother, Lisa Bayne, who runs Artful Home.   (Remember our Artful Home adventure?)  We first met Patrick Orcutt when he worked at StyleLikeU. He's now a PR consultant and manager at Agency V. Here (like many other people we will see during the course of the evening) he wears one of Zana's beautifully made harnesses, showing that these are now trending as legitimate street wear, elevating them from S&M uniform status.  (Valerie would have liked a harness - no one is heralding surgical boots as the next great accessory.)

The models, wearing Zana's leather accessories, emerged from the river side of the space and snaked their way through the crowd of people to strut their stuff - and Zana's stuff. They wore matching harnesses, bracelets, headpieces and belts

Love the tiara effect of this headdress. Who knew harnesses had fashion seasons? Would one not wear a white harness after Labor Day?

The dresses were body-con and all were black -- all the better to show off the accessories.

This shot gives you an idea of how tightly packed the crowd was surrounding the runway area and the depth of the space.  Note the overhead shipping containers providing the roof for the space.

The amazing Lichtenstein-come to life -- Mss Vee -- and her friends made an appearance.

And here's a close-up of those gams and those shoes! Something tells us we're not in Kansas anymore.

Stephanie (c.) from Beacon's Closet and her friend joined Valerie after the show.

They were so cute together! The place was awash with shipping containers, some converted into boutiques, like the one behind this couple, and some (suspended from the ceiling) not. Are shipping containers the new black?

Another growing trend is white hair, so we fit right in!  (Another growing trend is formal shorts.  We're passing on that one.)

When we admired this woman's beautifully draped dress, she told us she'd bought it at H&M.  That's when we recognized it as one of the Margiela classics that had been re-produced at great prices.

A wonderful part of the evening's entertainment was provided by these voguers, who danced wearing harnesses made by the evening's star designer, Zana Bayne.  The dancers are reed thin, but Zana tells us she made a custom harness for a 52 inch waist.

Jean with two harnessed dancers.

How amazing is this woman's exterior spine on a chain? She told us it is by OS Accessories, but it seems to have disappeared from their website, alas.

Patrick and Jean.

She and her outfit looked even more fabulous in person.  Behind her, another converted shipping container turned into retail space.

Jean and Andre.  His jacket, with its huge painted white roundel, is marvelously bold.   Enlarge the picture and have a look at the subversive character in yellow at the center right margin.

Jean and Andre full frontal.

Additional revelers.

We really liked her look.

Another trendy look.

Not too long ago, people would duck into dark narrow alleys to discreetly smoke a cigarette, or smoke something else, or get a little personal with another person.  And look quite sexy doing it.  Now everyone ducks into dark narrow alleys to check their phones.  And they look quite sexy doing it.

We loved the tailoring of the suit of the woman on the right.  Shouldn't all gatekeepers look like these women?

How amazing are this woman's flaming tresses? Turns out she's a friend of Ari Seth Cohen's.  It was kismet when the gent on the left showed up just before we snapped the picture. Loved how the print on his floral slacks echoed shades of orange.

Here we are having fun.  And yes, it's true.  We were the oldest people there that night.  But we didn't let that stop us.

More partygoers enjoying the scene.

Here is a frontal shot of the spinal harness, along with two other friends.

Valerie and friends.

At the stroke of 10, we were all  rushed out the door, so there must be some places in New York that are still unionized.  As patient guards looked on behind the scenes, we took one last photo -- with a pastel blue shipping container as background.

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Shipping Container Bonus

Click here for an article on a trendy shipping container home in trendy Brooklyn.